


Together, Till the End

by ghostly_words



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: (for now) - Freeform, All of the Villans included, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Bad Decisions, Bad Flirting, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Gen, Heavy Angst, I'm not caught up in campaign 2, Kiri is still going to be around for a bit, M/M, Molly is alive, Nott wants Caleb to be happy, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Other Ships To Be Added, Please be gentle if you have a critic, Rhialla joins the Mighty Nein, Rhialla likes writing poetry, She keeps trying to push him closer to Rhialla after a while, Slow Build, Slow Burn, So this is just my self-indulgent au, Swearing, Tags May Change, This is going to be long, This is somehow a way different experience from writing my other fics, denial fic, lots of swearing, many sad backstory reveals, so many tropes will be used, sorta follows canon, which is important for the story actually
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-11
Updated: 2018-09-10
Packaged: 2019-07-10 21:09:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,457
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15957599
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ghostly_words/pseuds/ghostly_words
Summary: The Mighty Nein enjoy their stay in Nicodranas and end up gaining a new member. Molly is still alive, and the group is still trying to figure out what to do with Kiri, as they learn more about each other and Rhialla, their new companion, as she learns about them. A promise is made as the threads of fate attached to each of them begin to weave together as a one thought begins to cross each of their minds."Together, till the very end"A very self-indulgent fanfic, not entirely true to canon but will stay mostly with the story. Features: the Mighty Nein being a family, self indulgent slow build ships, lgbt characters, equal amounts of fluff and angst, poetry, and google translated German.





	Together, Till the End

Shouts, cheers, cajoling, and haggling could be heard throughout the marketplace in Nicodranas. Walking through the streets, Jester leading the way with a smile on her face, the Mighty Nein smiled as they looked through the stalls for things they might need before they leave. It was Caduceus who asked if there had been any strange people in the city during the past few days, catching the attention of the rest of the party.

Jester felt some new emotion, the same one she had been feeling recently whenever she thought of who her father was, and leaned forward to listen to the stall owner.

“Hmmm, strange persons you say?” the stall owner said, rubbing his hand over his beard as he looked to the sky for a moment. Looking back to the curious faces, he nodded slowly, “Aye, I’ve heard of one person in town how has a strange look about her.”

“Her?” Beau asked, eyebrow raised and the look of a quick jab about to be spoken, when Fjord covered her mouth.

“Oh, aye. The lady is abit taller than you are lady,” the owner said, pointing to Beau before continuing, “Said to have pale golden skin, hair of two colors, one brown and the other is some red color, though it’s hard to tell with the coat she wears. Soft spoken lass, but seems to be tremendously strong as well.” Scratching his chin, the man paused for a moment as he tried to think of the other rumors he had heard.

As he thought, Nott looked around at the swarm of people around, hoping to find some shiny baubles, when a glint in the distance caught her eye. Walking a couple away from the group, her eyes focused on the glint and realised someone, a lady she thought, was wearing a couple rings on her hand. Grinning behind her mask, Nott darted through the streets, and managed to blend into the crowd and soon found herself only a few feet away from the hooded woman. Nott best thought of how to steal the rings when she noticed the woman had a red and orange feathered bird mask hanging from her belt,. Then, quite suddenly, Nott saw the front of the woman and looked up to see golden topaz colored eyes looking down at her.

Freezing up, Nott blurted out the first thing that came to her mind when the stranger tilted her head and raised an eye in confusion at her presence, “I like your mask.”

Smiling softly, the woman kneeled down to Nott’s level and spoke softly, “I like your mask too. What’s your name?”

Taken aback from the realization that the woman could see she was a goblin, Nott looked closely at the women and realized she did have a rosey golden tint to her skin, which looked a bit like marble, and had dark brown hair that turned to a ruddy pinkish color. She also could see a tattoo on the woman's left hand, which Nott realized the woman had held to her for a handshake. Nott swallowed and looked around nervously before stepping forward and shaking the woman’s hand, “My name is Nott. Nott the Brave technically. And what about you?” 

“I’m Rhialla. It’s nice to meet you Nott.” Shaking Nott’s hand, Rhialla straightened and then looked to the stall she was headed to before looking back to Nott. “Would you like some of the fish that man sells?”

Hesitating for a moment and stealing another glance at the rings on Rhialla’s left hand before she nodded, “If you’ll buy them, then sure.”

Chuckling, Rhialla nodded and walked to the stall, Nott having to almost jog to keep up with Rhialla’s much longer legs. Smiling in greeting, she browsed the fish available before glancing down at Nott and shrugging one shoulder, “Two of your largest salmon please.”

“That’ll run you 15 silver ma’am,” the owner said, reaching down to adjust his money belt before puffing out his chest.

Frowning, Rhialla looked at the fish then back to the man once again. “When did you bring these fish in? IF they had been brought it this morning I could see 15 silver, but I’m sure the rest of the fishermen here sell there’s for only 10. So, what makes yours worth 15 silver?” she asked, cocking her hips to the side and raising an eyebrow.

Glaring at her, the man grumbled before answering defiantly, “I catch my fish from the best part of the ocean. They’re better for you, and that’s why they’re bigger too. No one else knows the secret spot that leads to the best fish besides me. And that’s fact.”

Silent for a moment, Rhialla grinned, “It sounds like a joke to me. I came to this stall because it was the closest, but I’ve seen fish in other stalls that are bigger than yours, and they happen to boast the same thing you do.” Seeing the look of surprise that crossed the sellers face, Rhialla leaned forward and pressed more, “I think it’d be best to not try to dupe travellers, since most of them will simply not buy your fish,” she said quietly before straightening again.

Glaring at her for a long moment, the fisherman grumbled out, “Fine. 10 silver pieces for two of my largest salmon,” before begrudgingly taking the coins and wrapping the fish up before passing them over.

Rhialla smiled and walked a few stalls away from him before leaning against one of the city walls and passed Nott a piece of fish. The two crouched next to each other and ate their food in silence. Rhialla’s eyes tracked the movement of the people in front of them as Nott devoured her food and glanced between the rings and the rest of the people in the market before grumbling quietly to herself and looking for shiny things on the other people. Finishing her lunch, Rhialla groaned softly as she stood up and smiled down to Nott, “Well, I’m off to finish my shopping and you’re welcome to join me if you’d like, but if not, then it was nice to meet you Nott.” She said before joining the swarm of people and making her way towards the blacksmith.

Debating her options for a minute, Nott decided to follow Rhialla, confused by her nonchalance and willingness to buy food for a goblin. Catching up to her, Nott smiled behind her mask at the confused expression on Rhialla’s face, and only smiled wider when the taller woman smiled back. Making their way through the crowd and chatting about why they were both in the city, Rhialla held out her hand for Nott, before arriving at the blacksmiths shop and picking up her custom armor and shield.

During the exchange between Rhialla and the blacksmith, Nott saw Yasha looking around before hearing Caleb call out, “Nott, where are you?” Tugging on Rhialla’s coat, Nott saw her put away the armor she and shield she had payed for before Rhialla looked down to her. Grabbing her hand, Nott became to pull her in the direction of the Mighty Nein.

“Oh! Oh, I can’t believe I forgot to tell Caleb that I was looking for bobbles,” Nott muttered in an anxious tone before reaching for her flask. Looking back to Rhialla, Nott stopped for a moment to take a drink and put her mask back on, before walking again, “I think Molly would like to meet you, and Jester probably too. You don’t seem to mind weird people, and they both like that in someone, plus you have nice jewelry which Molly will like..”

Confused by the sudden idea of meeting Nott’s friends, after having only known her for maybe 15 minutes, Rhialla let herself get dragged through the crowds before seeing a very colorful group of people before her. Nott immediately ran over to Caleb who had knelt down and began to talk to her quietly, asking if she was all right and the like. One of the tieflings, a very flamboyant and peacock looking man with pierced horns and many jewels, looked between Nott and Rhialla before walking over to her as he eyed her up and down. Rhialla had a feeling this was the Molly that had mentioned moments before.

“Nott, you didn’t tell us you had a friend here,” Mollymauk said, taking in the woman’s rosey golden skin, which looked more like marble he thought, before noticing the woman’s surprised and vaguely amused expression.

“Actually,” Rhialla said softly, though she couldn’t quite keep the amusement out of her voice, “I met your friend just a few minutes ago. I didn’t realize she had a group with her.” Holding out her hand, she tilted her head towards the group, in some show of recognition, “I’m Rhialla by the way. Rhialla Badelas,” and smiled brighter when Molly stepped forward to shake her hand before he stepped back and bowed with a flourish.

“Well then! I’m Mollymauk Tealeaf, though you can call my Molly if you wish, and we are the Mighty Nein!” Molly stated, winking at her before grabbing her by the hand and dragging her closer to the group. Pointing to each one as he named them, Molly went down the line, “The man next to Nott is Caleb. Yasha is the lovely black and white lady in the back. Caduceus is next to her, and Fjord is next to him. Fjord is our anomaly spellcaster as it happens. Jester is the little blue tiefling, Beau is the lady in blue, Kiri is our current kenku charge, and Frumpkin is Caleb’s cat.”

Raising an eyebrow, Rhialla looked through the group before asking, “And, where exactly is this kenku charge of yours?” As all of them looked around in confusion, the realization dawned on them all that in their search for Nott, they had lost Kiri.

“Oh you’ve got to be kidding me. We’ve lost a four year old bird in a trade city. We’re the worst at this,” Fjord said, pinching the bridge of his nose before glaring at the crowds around them. 

“From now on, Kiri and Nott needs to hold our hands since their height makes them so easy to lose,” Beau commented, usure whether she was even joking or not as she scanned the crowd for feathers.

“How the hell are we going to find her in all of this?” Molly said, when Rhialla spoke up.

“What does she look like?”

Pausing, Caleb looked up to see Rhialla crouched on top of a few crates, looking down at them with a thoughtful expression. “She’s about Nott’s size, has black feathers, and wears dark clothes, including a cape,” he said, noticing that her eyes seemed to almost glow amber for a moment, and that she had some sort of tattoo around her right eye.

Nodding, Rhialla focused in on casting clairvoyance when a weight barreled into her legs and caused her to almost stumble into Molly before she caught herself. Looking down, she bright, wide, eyes staring up at her and she heard an inquisitive chirping sound from the young kenku currently holding onto her leg. Looking over to the Mighty Nein, she saw them still scanning the crowds, though Molly had turned to look at her with a curious look on his face. “I think I found her, Rhialla said calmly as she pointed to the child hiding behind her.

Seeing Kiri, Molly let out a chuckle and called out to the others before turning to kneel on the ground and inviting Kiri to hug him. A request she happily accepted as evidenced by a happy sounding chirp as she ran to him.

As relieved sighs sounded, Rhialla couldn’t help the smile on her lips, or the quiet chuckle as the watched Beau, Nott, Jester, Molly, and Fjord each take turns in saying similar remarks about how Kiri should now hold onto one of their hands in busy areas from now on. Sweeping her eyes over the crowd, Rhialla furrowed her brows when she say 4 men with angry expressions push through the crowd. Listening to them, she could barely make out the words “Have you seen,” and “Tiny feathered thing,” before she heard Kiri chirp loudly. The men seemed to hear it as well as they glared through the crowds, their frowns turning into snarls when they spotted something. Rhialla followed their gaze to see Kiri on Caudecus’ shoulders, and just now realized that Kiri could mimic what the others were saying.

Catching Molly’s eye, Rhialla rested her hand on her spear and moved in front of the Mighty Nein, almost immediately finding herself face to fae with three sweaty, angry men.

Stopping just short of the heavily clothed woman, the man in front growled and looked between her and the bird creature behind her who was looking fearfully at him, before noticing the group of people surrounding the creature. “Oi. Move woman. I’ve got a bone to pick with that little feathered thing,” he spat.

Without a moment's hesitation, Rhialla glared up to him, “No,” she said in a deadly calm voice. “I’m not going to move for someone who clearly doesn’t have a way to realize that this kind of situation is uncalled for, unfair, and completely ridiculous. Regardless of what a kenku child might have done,” She added, staring at him to see if there would be any sign of backing down once Kiri’s age was brought up. Seeing him growl and glare at her with more intensity, Rhialla sighed and shifted just so that she was leaning back slightly.

“I don’t give a shit about what that thing is, or how old it is. I’m Gilete, the best carpenter in this city and I deserve to be showed respect,” he said, cocking his head to the left and cracking his knuckles as he glared at the women. “Now, either you move, or I move you.”

Leveling him with her most deadpan expression she could muster, Rhialla smiled, a stretch of lips with far to much teeth to really be considered a ‘smile’, before she answered, “I already said my answer.” 

The Mighty Nein were surprised by the turn of events that they didn’t have time to react when the burly carpenter threw the first punch at Rhialla. Jester gasped before realizing that punch barely missed Rhialla’s head, though it caused her to move back with enough force that her coat’s hood fell down, revealing her two colored hair. They exchanged looks as they moved backwards in sync, confused as to how this all began, when they heard a sharp laugh and saw Rhialla dodge another punch and throw her own into one of the lackeys faces, breaking his nose from the force of it.

Feeling the seemingly divine part of her sing, Rhialla grinned when the man she just punched reeled back in pain, before she jerked her head back, narrowly dodging another wildly swinging fist. Digging her heel into the dirt under her, she swung around and jabbed her fist into Gilete’s abdomen. 

As a sharp pain exploded in her leg, she turned to see one of his friends swing a crowbar at her. Dropping to her knees and rolling, Rhialla heard the familiar crack of metal against bone as she saw Gilete stumble backwards holding his cheek. The two other men turned to face her and she shifted her stance, though she stayed low to the ground.

Letting the crowbar wielding one get close to her, Rhialla rocked back on her heels before launching herself at him and tackled him him the ground. Punching him in the face, she saw a bruise start to form on his cheek before she punched him hard in his ribs and heard a sharp crack as he cried out from the pain of having at least two of his ribs broken.

Side stepping off of him, she felt a punch glance of her side as the other man raised his fists and spat at her. “Rude,” Rhialla muttered, feeling herself smile when she heard an amused snort sound from her left, before trading blows with the man in front of her. Feeling her nose crushed beneath the mans fist, she grabbed his hair and slammed her elbow into his face. As he stumbled backwards, he kicked out shakily, only to feel his leg touch air.

Catching his kick, she twisted his leg, breaking the knee, and after he fell to the ground, she stomped on his inner thigh and pulled his leg in the same motion. A sickening crack sounded out as the man groaned in pain and began to roll on the ground in pain.

Taking a step back, she looked over and saw Gilete staring at his two friends on the ground before glaring at her with a deadly intent. “You, you’re gonna pay for this you bitch,” he said as he approached her while unsheathing a short dagger before charging at her.

Seeing the hulking form of her opponent charging at her, Rhialla raised her hands and side-stepped away from the knife before throwing two quick jabs into his side. As she ducked and dodged his knife and unarmed fist, she threw jabs when she could while memorizing his fighting pattern. Seeing an opening, Rhialla grinned and caught his knife hand by the wrist and stepped into him, throwing her elbow at his ribs. Hearing the air leave his lungs, she slammed the side of her fist into his inner thigh and grabbed what skin she could before twisting it as hard as she could. Feeling blood through his pants, Rhialla shoved him backwards and punched him in the face. In a flash of movement, she reached under her coat and grabbed her dagger, flipped it around and slammed the pommel of it into the side of his temple. 

Exhaling heavily as the man crumpled to the ground, she sheathed her blade and wiped away the blood from her nose as she surveyed the ground around them. Looking up to the sound of a quiet chirp, Rhialla saw 9 faces of varying emotion staring back at her.

“Das war überraschend,” Caleb said, effectively breaking the silence and causing Rhialla to look away from them sheepishly before pulling her hood back up to cover her hair. Looking down at Nott, he saw her smile up at him with a mix of nervousness and surprise, though he could tell Nott seemed to still like Rhialla. Hearing Beau and Fjord’s startled laugh, they saw Molly, Jester, and Kiri walk over to Rhialla, followed by the others. Hanging at the back, Caleb and Nott followed them, though Caleb leaned down to talk to Nott on her level, “You seem to have a knack for finding more than shiny baubles,” he said, though he made sure she could see his faint smile.

Laughing, Nott smiled and nodded, “Well, she still seems nice. And, I know she might seem like the kind to attract a lot of attention to herself, but so are the rest of our friends and we seem to be doing well anyway.” she said, looking at Caleb with a surprising amount of excitement and hope. An expression Caleb couldn’t help but return before they turned their attention the conversation in front of them.

Kiri chirped loudly and butted her head against Rhialla’s leg before mimicking Molly, “That was nice to watch! Better than most py to watch fights even!”

Jester looked about to say something, likely about how cute Kiri was, when Fjord spoke up, “Should we, maybe, find someplace to stay while talking? I figure it’s best to try to avoid attracting attention to ourselves, and while most people seem so not have been paying attention, three unconscious men is going to cause a few looks our way.”

“I, personally, think that’s a good idea,” Beau added, leaning against her staff, “As long as you’re coming with us, cause uh, I wanna know where you learned to do all that.”

Smothering her own laughter, Jester looped her right arm through Rhialla’s left and began walking. “Of course you do Beau,” Jester teased as Molly looped his left arm through Rhialla’s right arm and Caduceus followed immediately behind them, happily holding Kirir as well.

A bit taken aback by the situation, Rhialla nodded and smiled at the strange group around her, “I know of a tavern nearby that should still have plenty of rooms left. The Withered Bird Inn is the name of it I think.”

“Well, that’s the place we’re going to then!” Jester exclaimed as the Mighty Nein made their way through the streets of Nicodrannas to the Withered Bird Inn, a bewildered new companion in tow.


End file.
